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2008 Christmas Greetings

Hi there! A Very Merry Christmas to You!

I don't know about you but for the past couple of weeks or so, I've been receiving tons and tons of emails (very thinly) disguised as Christmas greetings, when they are, in fact, just blatant product promotions. All the big guys are doing it. I understand that the holiday season is a good time to really bring in the dough by ramping up promotions. But the sheer number of emails that I have been receiving...well, I can only say that it's been rather overwhelming.

So, to ensure that I don't jump on the band wagon neednessly and overwhelm you with even more promotions, you won't find any attempt from my part to sell you anything (at least not in this letter). It's not that I don't care about sales (maybe I'll do some promotion for the New Year). It's just that I don't think Christmas is all about buying gifts and selling stuff. Rather, Christmas is more about home and family.

As some of you may know, I am from this little island called Singapore. This is one of the tiniest country you can find on the face of this earth, with a population of just over 4 million. Since this is the time for home and family, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to share with you some interesting information about this little island I call home.

The people.

If you ever come to Singapore, you should feel quite comfortable communicating with the citizens here because the majority of the population speaks English. English is our first language here. But be forewarned. The way we speak is rather different from how most people speak in other countries. For instance, if you are from the US, the UK, Canada, or India, you may have to spend some time getting used to the way we speak.

Due to our multiracial background (Chinese, Malays, Indians, and others), we have a tendency to communicate with a wide variety of languages and dialects. It is common to find Singaporeans being able to speak AT LEAST English and Mandarin, as well as one or two dialects (Cantonese, Hokkien, or Teochew). In a single sentence, we sometimes mix English, Mandarin, and other languages together. And this makes it very difficult for foreigners to catch what we are saying.

On top of that, English in my country has evolved to become a rather unique language, known as "Singlish". I don't know exactly where that came from. Perhaps it meant "Singaporean English". The main difference between "Singlish" and proper English is that we tend to add wierd sounds to the end of English sentences.

Here are some examples:

• "...go home lah."
• "...why like that one?"
• "...ok lah"
• "...yes lor"

To understand what we are trying to say, just ignore all the "Lahs" and "Lors". They are just additional sounds we add to the sentences. But we are used to speaking like that. So you'll get to hear a lot of those.

Another trait that Singaporeans are famous for is our "Kiasuism". I don't think you've even heard of this word before. Why? Because it originated from our tiny little island, Singapore. But it's a word that's recognized in the dictionary now. And it's meant to refer to the behavior of fearing to lose out. And that is just typical of Singaporeans.

Every parent wants their child to be in the top school. Every working adult wants to compete for the top jobs. On a daily basis, everyone wants to get on the MRT (Mass Rapid Transit Train) first. But when everyone is trying to rush in, how can people on the inside get out? And it makes perfect sense to wait for people to come out first so that there is space for others to get in. But no, Singaporeans, being Singaporeans, will rush in first. Why? Because we are "Kiasu".

Does this mean we are bad people? Of course not! It's just what makes our little country so unique. Singaporeans are certainly not bad people. Anyone who has ever been to Singapore before will tell you that it's one of the safest country to be in. You can walk around the streets in the middle of night without having to worry about anything. You can buy food from the Food Court and use your bags to reserve the seats, and nobody would steal your personal belongings.

Here's a quick tip. The next time you visit Singapore, and you are at a crowded Food Court, try using a pack of tissue paper to "reserve" a table while you go buy your food. Singaporeans are so well-mannered that we will respect your tissue paper and leave the seats for you. I think this is the only country in the world that the tissue paper trick works!

The food.

You must be wondering, "Why are the Food Courts in Singapore always so crowded? So much so that we need to reserve tables with tissue paper?" Well, first of all, it's a fact that Singapore is a densely populated city. Everywhere you go, be prepared to run into many people. Secondly, Singapore is also very well known for being a food paradise.

This is another adorable trait of Singaporeans - we just love to eat, and eat, and eat, and eat. In our Food Courts, you can find all kinds of delicious food. We have Chinese laksa, Western food, Indian roti prata, BBQ chicken wings, satays, nasi lemak (Malay rice), and many other mouth watering food. The next time you visit Singapore, don't leave the country until you have had a chance to try our BBQ chicken wings with lime juice. The chicken wings are served with spicy chilli sauce, and when combined with refreshing lime juice, the taste is divine. Try it!

BBQ chicken wings with fresh lime

The happenings.

2008 has been a year that is full of ups and downs, for me at least. But earlier in the year, I had the wonderful opportunity to witness the first ever Formula 1 night race in my country. Singapore had never hosted a major event such as a Formula 1 race before. Before the actual event, the entire country was just filled to the brim with anticipation. Lots of media attention, and people just can't stop talking about the event.

I never really liked immensely crowded places. I prefer to have my peace. But as it happens, my wife managed to get free tickets to the event. It was for day one of the three day event.

Where it all started

We went there in the afternoon, and stayed till the night race started. During the day, we lingered around souvenir shops and watched the trial runs. They sold all kinds of branded apparel there: BMW, Ferrari, McLaren, etc. There were caps, T-shirts, polo shirts, key chains, and all kinds of interesting stuff. As this is the official event, everything was priced higher than normal, which was expected. We ended up with a few BMW T-shirts. My wife is a big fan of BMW.

We didn't wait for the entire race to complete though. The place was so packed that even though we tried to leave early, we found that we could barely move through the crowd. In fact, the organizers were badly criticized for not executing the human traffic control well enough. To the kids, it must have been a nightmare. It took us more than an hour just to reach the exits. Most of the time, we were just stuck in the crowd. We had to squeeze in between all the people (mostly drenched in sweat as the night was warm) step by step just to make some kind of progress. By the time we got out, I was just glad to be on the way home.

It was a funny experience for me. On the one hand, I was glad that I got the opportunity to be so close to the Forumla 1 cars. But on the other hand, the event sapped all the energy out of me! I'm not sure if I'll go to another F1 race again. Maybe I will, maybe I won't. I guess I'll have to make up my mind if the opportunity ever arises again.

When the cars zoomed past us while we stand near the fences, the entire atmosphere seemed to be trembling. The ear plugs that we had with us were hardly useful. But most people didn't mind the loud roars of the cars. They were just magnificent to watch!

Exhibition cars warming up

Oh, and by the way, the Ferrari team made a grave mistake during the actual race. Massa, who was in the lead, sped off with the fuel hose still attached to his car. As a result, Massa lost his lead. And to make things worse, Kimi Raikkonen didn't manage to finish the race! He crashed out with 4 laps to go. What a terrible, terrible night for Ferrari.

Fernando Alonso won the race, followed by Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton. I'm sure the entire Ferrari team would rather forget about this race and move on quickly. On hindsight, it was a rather hilarious moment. A Ferrari team member actually had to run after the car to remove the hose. It was fortunate that Massa realized that the hose was still attached to the car before he left the pit.

I guess at the end of the event, most people just felt sorry for the Ferrari team. But hey, it was great drama, which was what made F1 races so exciting to watch!

Close-up shot of one of the drivers. Must be hot in there.

That's a lot of racing tyres for the race.

Christmas.

I grew up in a family that was primarily into Buddhism. That has changed now. My mum is now a devote Christian. But for my generation, me and my brothers are free thinkers. To some people, it's funny how someone can be without religion. That's understandable, because after all, a lot of things in life don't really make sense without religion.

But I grew up in a rather difficult environment, one that most people would be familiar with. We were forever worrying about bills, and I found myself having to work part time at the tender age of 15. My first job was a tuition assignment for a kid who was just 4 years younger than me. As you can imagine, we hardly had time to think about what we wanted to do on Christmas. So we never had a Christmas tree, and we never celebrated Christmas.

Now, I live with my wife in our newly bought tiny apartment. And for the first time, we can pretty much do what we want. So I told my wife a few weeks ago, that we should be getting our own Christmas tree. And so we did. We had a lot of fun sourcing for the tree, buying the decorations and lights, and finally putting them all together in our living room. And our biggest challenge? Getting the top ribbon to look right!

Our Christmas tree, and I'd like to share it with you.

So, that is home and family for me. But what about you? Have you been thinking about your home and family? I certainly hope you have. Your family and friends - they are the best in the world. So treat them well, and enjoy the joy and peace that comes with Christmas. They cost nothing. I sincerely wish that you have the most enjoyable Christmas holiday. Have fun!

Sincerely,

Article Distribution Service
P.S. See? Told you there was nothing to buy. Merry Christmas!

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